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There were long lines all over town as residents patiently waited to register their names to be eligible for the drawing. Fourteen years later many of them are still waiting. Though there was talk of building 50,000 units a year at the time, the reality is only 182,388 housing units have been completed to date. Some have given up hope and stopped depositing the monthly savings installments.

One of the hot campaign issues of the 2005 elections was the condominium apartment housing projects. It was a novel idea at the time that was forwarded by the EPRDF as a solution to the acute housing problem of the capital city. It garnered some support for the party and sparked the hopes of many residents. There were long lines all over town as residents patiently waited to register their names to be eligible for the drawing. Fourteen years later many of them are still waiting. Though there was talk of building 50,000 units a year at the time, the reality is only 182,388 housing units have been completed to date. Some have given up hope and stopped depositing the monthly savings installments.


But the Addis Abeba City Administration seems to have been reinvigorated with renewed vigor as Deputy Mayor Takele Uma announced that they will be building 20,504 units at a cost of 56 billion Br over the next two years. That may be welcome news for some of the over 800,000 residents registered for the housing units who have not given up hope and are waiting for a miracle. But some might wonder if this is also another campaign promise that will only be partially fulfilled.




You can read the full story    here    


PUBLISHED ON Nov 09,2019 [ VOL 20 , NO 1019]

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